Mask



Dec, 3, 1.935 w. J. WESTMORE MASK Filed Dec. 26, 1953 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Inventor Walter J We'stmore. WM

Dec. 3, 1935. w. J. WESTMORE MASK Filed Dec. 26, 1955 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Inventor Zl/alterf Zflestmare.

Patented Dec. 3, 1935 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE MASK Application December 26, 1933, Serial No. 704,027

3 Claims.

This invention has reference tomasks such as may be worn by actors to simulate the facial characteristics of characters they impersonate, and is intended particularly for simulation of grotesque or amusing characters such as those found, for instance, in the story Alice in Wonderland.

It is a particular object of the invention to provide a mask which may have exterior facial characteristics to resemble any character chosen, but which is of an elastic nature and is so designed as to transmit the facial expressions of the wearer tothe features of the mask, so that the mask, which may be highly grotesque in appearance, will be animated with facial expressions corresponding to those of the wearer.

The present invention provides a mask which is made individually to suit the wearer and is characterized in that the mask is formed to fit selected areas of the wearers face which overlie certain animating muscles of the face, as for instance the upper lip, the point of the chin, the area immediately under eyes and at the sides of the nose, etc., while at all other places the mask need not touch the face and may be built out to resemble the character to be portrayed.

The invention will now best be understood by referring to the following detailed description, reference for this purpose being had to the accompanying drawings, in which:

Fig. 1 is a view showing a plaster cast of the person who is to wear the mask;

Fig. 2 is a view showing the cast of Fig. 1 after it has been modeled out with clay to resemble the character to be portrayed, and having indicated thereon in dotted lines areas which will be left free of clay to expose certain portions of the plaster cast;

Fig. 3 is a View of a plaster cast made from the model of Fig. 2;

Fig. 4 is a view to a scale somewhat smaller than that of Figs. 13, of the finished mask;

Fig. 5 is a vertical central section through the mask and showing also the outline of the face of the wearer;

Fig. 6 is a view similar to a portion of Fig. 5 but showing a modified form;

Fig. 7 is a view of the wearer showing a chin strap which is attached to the mask and by which the mask is held securely in place against the face of the wearer, the mask in this figure being omitted;

Fig. 8 is a view showing the mask being worn by the actor; and

Fig. 9 is a detailed section through one edge of an eye hole of a mask and showing how the edge of the eye hole is vulcanized to the face of the wearer to render said edge invisible.

To prepare a mask for a given person to wear,

I first make a plaster cast of that persons head. 5 Such a cast is shown at l 0 in Fig. 1, and may be made according to well known methods. In making this cast, two impressions of the persons head may be taken in forming the mold, one of the face, and one of the rear of the head; or if 10 desired, an impression may be taken of the face, and the rear of the head of the cast may be formed merely from measurement. In any case, there is provided in some suitable manner a plaster cast Ill of the head of the person who is to 15 wear the mask.

I then model in clay on this plaster cast the character the actor is to portray, as for instance Tweedle Dum of Alice in Wonderland. In Fig. 2 is shown the plaster cast l0, built out with clay, 20 as indicated at H, to match the features of the character desired to be imitated. In this modeling with clay, certain areas of the plaster cast, corresponding to the animating facial muscles, are left exposed. Such areas are indicated on 25 Fig. 2 enclosed by dotted lines. For example, such areas may be the chin, the upper lip, the bridge of the nose, the areas under the eyes, and the forehead. Thus in Fig. 2 the areas left exposed include an area i2 on the chin, an area I3 30 on the upper lip, and a comparatively large area l4 including a strip of considerable width passing over the top of the head, and extending downwardly in front to cover the forehead, eyes, and to extend along the sides of the nose, as 85 clearly indicated by the heavy dotted lines. The exposed area l3 on the upper lip extends across the lip from cheek to cheek, and turns under into the mouth. These areas will of course vary somewhat with diiferent persons and with different characters to be imitated, but the underlying principle in all cases is to leave exposed points or areas over certain of the animating muscles of the face; Outside these areas the clay is modeled on and built out as at H to represent any grotesque character. 7

I next make a plaster cast of the modeled form of Fig. 2, the latter cast being shown at I8 in Fig. 3. The mouth, nostrils and, if desired, the eyes, on this cast are then cut or sunk in, in a mannerand for a purpose which will appear presently. The cast is then painted with shellac. When this is dry, the cast is sprayed all over with liquid rubber. I prefer to use for this purpose a commercial product of the Goodrich Rubber Company known as Latex. After this spraying with rubber the cast is placed in an oven, and the layer of rubber is cooked at a temperature of approximately 125 F. for a period of about 15 minutes. The cast is then removed, and several more coats applied, each resulting layer being cooked in the same manner as the first. The rubber may also be applied by dipping, but the resulting coats are thinner than those applied by the spray method, and more coats are accordingly required. The rubber mask is in this way built up to the required thickness, which may be from one thirty second to one sixteenth of an inch, or even thicker if desired. Before the last coating of liquid rubber, I paint the mask the desired color with a suitable rubber paint. then protects the paint, but is substantially transparent and does not obliterate the color.

The mask 20 is then stretched and slipped off of the cast. Enlarged eye holes 2| may at this time be cut out of the mask. It will be evident that the cutting in of the mouth line and the nostril holes on the cast of Fig. 3 will have caused the rubber mask to fit well into those openings. Thus the mask is shown fitting well under the upper lip and within the mouth in Figs. 5 and 6. The lower lip is here shown given a special treatment, which may be employed if desired, and may also in some cases be used for the upper lip. Thus as shown in Fig. 5, the rubber which normally would extend into the mouth over the lower lip, is turned over and around a wire 24, bent into the shape which it is desired the lower lip shall take, and the rubber may be fastened in place over this wire with rubber cement.

The nostril openings may at this time be cut open, in order to enable the wearer to breath easily.

The mask then appearsas indicated in Fig. 4. I then provide a means for holding the mask accurately in place on the face of the wearer. This means, with mask omitted, is shown in Fig. 7. At 21 is shown a pad, preferably of rubber, adapted to fit over the point of the chin and conform thereto, and attached to said pad are two rubber bands 28 and 29, the first passing upwardly across the face, over the ears, and around the back of the head, and the second passing around the back of the neck, as clearly indicated in Fig.7. The chin of the mask is secured to pad 21, as by means of rubber cement, and it will be obvious that this device holds the mask securely in place against the face. Fig. 6 shows a modification, which may be used where it is desired to build the chin out somewhat beyond the normal chin of the wearer. Here there is placed between the comparatively thin pad 2'! and the chin of the mask, a piece of sponge rubber 32, which may be fastened to the mask and to pad 21 with spirit gum.

To enable easily placing the mask on the head of the wearer, and to make adjustments of the upper band 28, it may in some cases be necessary to slit the mask up the back of the neck and head for the necessary distance. This slit will be fastened closed after the mask is adjusted.

Fig. 8 shows the mask provided with wig and cap 33, and adjusted in place on the head of the actor. 'Before placing the mask on the wearers head, his forehead, upper lip, chin, and the areas at the sides of the nose may be coated with a small amount of spirit gum, which will cause the mask to adhere to those areas. The edges of the eye holes, indicated in Fig. 8 by the dotted circles,

are preferably obliterated from view. This may The last thin coating. of liquid rubber be done in the manner indicated in Fig. 9, where the edge of eye hole 2! is shown covered with a very thin strip 34 of rubber, which is fastened to the mask and also directly to the face 35 of the wearer with spirit gum. By painting the 5 actors face within the eye openings, and also the strip 34, the same color as the mask, the edges of the eye openings are entirely obliterated.

From the foregoing description it will be evident that the mask now directly touches the 10 wearers face only at those areas which were left exposed in modeling the clay on the plaster cast (Fig. 2) which were selected areas over important facial muscles such as the upper lip, chin, forehead, and areas below the eyes and along the nose. The balance of the mask stands out from the face, leaving an air space such as is indicated at 38 in Fig. 5. It will now be obvious that any facial expressions of the actor, brought about by movement of the muscles of his face which are touched by the areas of contact of the mask, will be transmitted to and reflected in the corresponding features of the elastic mask. Thus the mask may be made to smile, laugh, frown, appear to talk, etc., merely by virtue of corresponding natural facial action or animation upon the part of the actor.

The mask of the present invention is not to be confused with those thin rubber masks of the prior art which amount substantially to a second skin fitting tightly in all parts over the face of the wearer. The present mask is thus not intended to appear to be in fact the actual natural face of the actor, and to reflect with absolute perfection every line and expression of the wearers face, but is rather to appear to be a grotesque character whose face is animated with expression, and which will follow in a general and amusing fashion, and as perfectly as may be accomplished in a mask of this type, the facial action of the wearer.

The mask is of advantage in that it is not difiicult to wear as compared with masks heretofore known in the art, which come in intimate contact with the entire face, since the mask actually touches only a limited area of the face, and leaves a substantial air space between it and the balance of the face.

I claim:

1. A character mask embodying a layer of resilient material having such shape as to fit and contact the face of the wearer accurately over certain selected areas corresponding to facial animating muscles but extended outwardly from the face of the wearer in other areas in such form as to resemble facial characteristics of the character represented, such that there is a space between the latter areas of the mask and the face of the wearer, all in such manner that facial expressions of the wearer are transmitted through the close fitting contact areas of the mask to cause the entire face of the mask to reflect such facial expressions.

2. A character mask embodying a layer of comparatively thin rubber and molded to resemble facial characteristics of the character represented, but having certain contact areas adapted to fit the face of the wearer accurately over selected facial animating muscles, there being a clearance between other areas of the mask and the face of the wearer, all in such manner that facial expressions of the wearer are transmitted through the close fitting contact areas of the mask to cause the entire face of the mask to reflect such'facial expressions.

3. A character mask adapted to cover the entire head of the wearer and embodying a layer of comparatively thin rubber, said mask having selected contact areas adapted to fit accurately the face of the wearer over selected animating facial muscles, but extended outwardly from the face of the wearer in other areas in such form as to resemble facial characteristics of the character represented, all in such manner that facial expressions of the wearer are transmitted through the close fitting contact areas of the mask to cause the entire face of the mask to reflect such facial expressions.

WALTER J. WESTMORE. 

